Injury prone
By zeilfanaat
Category: Humour, General
Ratings: G or K
Warning: none
Disclaimer: Stargate: SG-1 is not mine. No infringement intended. Any characters that are not from the series or the movie, are mine.
Spoilers: none that I'm aware of
Summary: When SG-1 comes back and goes straight to the infirmary for the umpteenth time, it's being said that SG-1 is 'injury prone', and perhaps even incompetent. A Major has a talk with the General.
A/N: It's short, it's not beta-read, and it's finished. Hope you enjoy. I did read it through a couple of times looking for mistakes, but please let me know if there are any left. Thanks.
Lou Feretti was angry. That in itself was a strange concept, since the Italian-American was one of the most easy-going, good-humoured officers the SGC had. What made it stranger still was the fact that he and his team had just rescued SG-1 and had brought them home. That was a reason to rejoice… right?
General George Hammond could see the man was seething, and would probably start seeing steam coming from the man's ears if he didn't interrupt. The debriefing was almost over,
"Major Feretti, do you have anything to add?"
The jaw was set, and for a moment the General was reminded under whose command the Major had previously served. "No, Sir."
"Very well, you're dismissed." The members of SG-2 gathered their notes and started to walk off. "Major Feretti, a word please."
Grudgingly the Major stayed, but he was good enough an Air Force officer to wipe his face from any emotion that could be seen as insubordinate or insulting. "Sir."
"What's on your mind, Major?" the General asked, almost gently. For a moment, Lou was taken aback. He had expected a reprimand or something along those lines for being close to insubordinate during this meeting. Not for the General to ask how he was.
"It's nothing, Sir," Feretti managed, hoping that the General would stop asking questions. It was not like he disliked the man, quite the opposite, but he didn't know the man as good as Ja- he didn't know him good enough to share his emotions. Unfortunately, Hammond raised his eyebrow, and waited for the officer to continue.
"It really is nothing important, Sir," Feretti tried again.
"It obviously is important enough to get you riled, Major Feretti. Did something else happen during the search and rescue mission of SG-1 that I need to know about?"
"No, Sir. Everything that happened we've already told you about," Feretti said.
"Then what has gotten you so angry?"
Feretti was about to deny it once more, when the General shot him a look which said he had better not. He took a deep breath.
"It's just… SG-1, they're the best we have, Sir. But they always seem to get hurt. It seems as if they can't return home without at least one of them being injured."
Another short silence, before the Major continued. "I've heard some people call them accident-prone, or even 'injury prone'. One even said Ja- Colonel O'Neill must be incompetent for allowing his people or himself to get hurt this often. And that infuriates me. Sir," he quickly added, as he fought to get his emotions back under control. "I just don't want Colonel O'Neill to know what some people say."
For a long moment, the base commander looked at him thoughtfully. He had known that a few of his subordinates had mixed feelings about SG-1. They made an excellent team, but it consisted of four completely different people. Some people who were aware of the Stargate, were uncomfortable with an alien being on the team. Especially one so skilled and knowledgeable as Teal'c. And even though Teal'c had proven his loyalty and his value, there were still some people who would rather see him gone, or at least locked up somewhere.
Then there was Samantha Carter. A skilled Major, and a brilliant astrophysicist, who had fought hard to be accepted as a woman in the Air Force. At which she had succeeded… in the Air Force. The Marines were a different cup of tea. She could prove herself till she dropped, which to some Marines would only prove she wasn't worthy of carrying a weapon. Some Marines, he needed to stress, because in this command there were few left who thought women didn't belong in the military.
Doctor Daniel Jackson was a great archaeologist and linguist, and at least he didn't need to worry about entering a 'man's army'. But the fact that he was a civilian, and hadn't been combat-trained, didn't mean he was readily accepted among the soldiers. That had started to change when he had saved a couple of lives, and when Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c had taken to train Daniel in combat-techniques and firing weapons. His tendency to question command decisions or ignore them altogether drove most officers crazy, and even O'Neill was sometimes brought to the edge of exasperation, but Jackson's compassion made up for a lot.
And so you got to Colonel Jack O'Neill, Special Op trained, experienced with Black Ops, and one of the few who managed to get out of them without losing grip on reality. Though, some said it was questionable whether the Colonel was actually one of those, whether he was really to be trusted with a demanding and responsible job of leading the command's premier team, and being the base's 2IC. These 'some' would either have never met the Colonel, or hate his guts. However, the man had saved this world and others more than once, had saved a lot of people's lives, more than once, and had garnered more than one medal throughout his career. Something you didn't do if you were incompetent.
Yes, the General could well imagine why Major Feretti was angry. But it wasn't anything new. Hammond had known of the rumours, knew the people who said it, but there wasn't much to be done about it.
Even Jack O'Neill himself knew about it, and had shrugged it off when Hammond had once questioned him on the subject. It truly hadn't bothered him, and at Hammond's prodding, he had said, "Sir, with all due respect, I have been called many things, and some are true, some are not. I have been through quite some things where the odds were heavily stacked against me, yet I'm still here. I know if I'm incompetent or not. And if I start losing my edge, I'll be the first to resign."
It had been one of the longest speeches, Hammond had ever heard from O'Neill, but it had put his mind at ease. He couldn't have a Second In Command who questioned his own abilities because others did so.
With a sigh, General Hammond stood. "Come with me, Son," he said to the Major, who followed him all the way to the infirmary. From the observation area, they looked down at the three occupied beds. There were two nurses, making notes.
"Look, Major, and tell me, what do you see?"
Lou looked at the General curiously, but wouldn't dream of questioning him. So, he looked. "Well, Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter and Daniel Jackson are all three in a bed, and they look a lot better than they did out on PR8-975. And Teal'c is sitting on the floor… I think he's in Kel'No'Reem, Sir."
He looked up again. "With all due respect, Sir, why did you ask?"
"Do you realise, these four people are still the same four people who formed SG-1 when we started going through the gate?" Hammond said quietly. "The only team which still has all its original members?"
Lou Feretti sat back, letting the words seep through.
"SG-1 is not accident or injury prone. If anything, they're survival prone."
Feretti quirked an eyebrow. "They did die, a couple of times, Sir."
The base commander snorted. "They survived even that, 'cause they sure do look alive."
"Yes, Sir," Lou said with a grin. The General nodded, and added, "Dismissed."
Feretti saluted and was about to leave, when Hammond spoke again.
"And Major." Hammond waited till Lou had turned around. "Colonel O'Neill knows, and is competent enough to know better."
Lou's eyes widened slightly, but he caught himself, and gave a wry smile. "Should have known, Sir. Thank you."
Hammond nodded, and this time Lou really left. A last look into the infirmary, showed Jack O'Neill holding his bruised ribs, while telling off Daniel, who was laid up with his broken leg in the air, for making him laugh, and ordering the scraped and bruised Carter not to giggle but try to sleep for crying out loud. Teal'c briefly opened his eyes, and a ghost of a smile flew over his face, before he once again returned to Kel'No'Reem.
SG-1 had made it home, alive and almost well. Lucky? Yes. Competent? Definitely. With a smile, General Hammond left the observation room as well. His 2IC was in the infirmary, so he had to sign some requisition forms himself. Sometimes George wondered whether Jack did it on purpose, just to avoid paperwork, but then he shook his head. He may act childish every once in a while, but the Colonel wouldn't try and avoid his duty. He knew that, if he did, he would get his competent ass kicked by a certain General.
The End
A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed.